


Episode 48: "We're being hailed!"

by PitoyaPTx



Series: Clan Meso'a [48]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Clan Ordo, Gen, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Clan, Mandalorian Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22652158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitoyaPTx/pseuds/PitoyaPTx
Summary: "Did I miss something while I was gone?" ~MaceonDiscovering a trap the Lyse way: trigger it just to be sure. Good thing it only caused emotional damage.
Series: Clan Meso'a [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1261364
Kudos: 1





	Episode 48: "We're being hailed!"

Fallstra-II dropped out of hyperspace and slowed to a halt while Beun signaled command. Garrigon accepted the call and motioned Jiik and Chellin over from the caf station.   
“First report?” Jiik asked before Garrigon could.   
“She’s a real eyesore,” said Beun, “but the damage looks consistent with ship-on-ship combat. Maybe they got too close to someone they shouldn’t have?”  
The others nodded.   
“Keep your theories for later,” advised Chellin, “Don’t want to read too much into this until we have all the facts. Besides, we need to restrategize and our window is shrinking now that heavily armed patrols are bound to be in the area.”   
“We don’t have all the facts?”  
“We have what we’ve been given,” clarified Maceon with a glance at her father, “But this was a shuttle carrying munitions and the Republic just declared war three days ago. We can’t rule anything out right now.”  
“You suspect they were targeted?” asked Teika.   
“We suspect whatever happened will be answered once you’re down there,” answered Chellin, “But that standby order we sent you was for just that. We wanted to warn you to be careful. Our intel appears solid but I don’t want to take any chances.”   
“What he means,” added Garrigon, “Is that this is a delicate situation. Treat this ship like a charge about to detonate: be smart and be careful.”   
Fent and Beon both frowned; Lyse, however, just shrugged and flipped down her faceplate.   
“Let’s divide and conquer, ye?” she clapped.   
“Sure,” agreed Beun, “We’ll keep the line open and give you a play by play.”   
“I’ll record what’s brought up as it comes,” said Maceon.   
“I’ll be on the boarding team, then,” said Lyse.   
Beun shook her head, “That’s fine, I guess. I’ll head that group. Fent, Beon?”   
“I’ll go with you,” said Fent.   
“I’ll stay,” said Beon with a nod to Maceon.   
Jiik chuckled, “Still?”   
Beon smiled slightly, “Just doing what I can.”   
“What does that mean?” his sister crossed her arms and eyed him suspiciously.   
“It means,” Fent put a hand on her shoulder, “He’s being a good brother. Now let’s get moving. I don’t like being this close to Coruscant.”   
Lyse, Teika, and Beun took to the supply cabinets and changed out their helmets and breastplates for those outfitted with life support hookups. Fent helped Beun secure her lekku tubing, Teika with Lyse’s. Next came the oxygen tanks and a separate hose to pressurize and de-pressurize their suits. The trio stepped away from each other; Beun counted down. Fent flipped a switch and their suits began to hiss and inflate in certain areas. Over the com, Lyse whistled.   
“Good thing we overhauled the whole system,” she said, stretching her neck to check the seal under her chin, “A lot quieter than the old one.”   
“I’ll say,” agreed Teika, jogging in place, “Ready when you all are.”   
Fent suited up last with Beun’s help then followed them down to the cargo bay. 

Noga’n and Goldie took to the cockpit, the strill wearing a safety harness hooked to the back of Noga’n’s chair should anything go wrong with the air locks. Wouldn’t want to lose the precious cargo, he thought to himself as he fastened the last buckle around the creature’s midsection. Goldie was used to this and sat still which Noga’n was grateful for.   
“Won’t be long,” he promised when he spied the strill gnawing on the tether.   
Goldie snorted at him and climbed into the seat beside him.   
“Don’t press anything,” he warned when Goldie started sniffing at the ventilation control. If he pressed it, well, let’s say whomever was nearest the airlock might get blown out by a pressurized puff of air. Beun installed it after a trip to Illum left her cargo bay full of snow. With one pressed, the ship’s ventilation is reset and loose particles are ejected from the ship. Normally she engages it when no one is the line of fire. At the moment, Maceon, Beon, and Teika were in the blast zone. Instead of a flurry of snow, there would be a flurry of curses over the coms.   
“There you go,” Noga’n patted Goldie’s head when the strill backed off and curled up on the seat. Keeping an eye on the radar is a lot easier when you have no other distractions.   
“How’s the leg?” came a voice from beside him.   
He turned to the side panel to his left where a miniature Jiik was projected.   
“Doing fine, sir.”   
Jiik nodded.   
“May I ask a question?”  
“Make it quick,” he yawned, “It’s late and I need to be awake enough to hear what you lot find.”   
“Of course, I… You don’t have to tell me, but I don’t buy that this is some smuggler’s ship,” he began slowly, “Something tells me our Alor wouldn’t be personally invested in a simple dispute between arms dealers.”   
“And?”   
“It’s just, when I saw this ship, it reminded me of one I used to see parked out in the swamp on Hutta. It-”  
Jiik’s eyes grew wide, “You saw one on Hutta? When?”  
“Years ago, it was, well,” he shrugged, “It looked like a hunk of junk then too...Why? Do you think it’s a company or..?”  
Jiik tapped furiously on his console; Chellin appeared beside him.   
“On Hutta?!” exclaimed Chellin, “You’ve seen this before? Why didn’t you say something in the briefing?”  
“I-I wasn’t sure!” Noga’n put up his hands apologetically, “When we came up on it, I recognized the shape of the nose cone. It was out in the swamps like someone was trying to hide it. Hard to do when it looks so-”  
“Did it ever move?”  
“Uh,” Noga’n thought for a moment, “Yeah. One day we were out shoveling slop when I noticed it was gone,” he looked from one to the other, “I’m not sure I see the significance.”   
But neither Chellin nor Jiik were listening anymore.   
“Here, Nar Shaddaa, Belsavis, Tatooine, Alderaan, Zakuul, and now Hutta… what are they doing?” Jiik muttered to himself as he swiped through a series of logs Noga’n couldn’t quite read.   
“They could be tracking the Hutts?”  
“But why?”  
“It’s like they’re looking for something.”   
“Or someone?”  
“Not likely.”   
“Um,” said Noga’n turning up the volume slightly, “What are you talking about? Who are they?”   
“Did anyone else notice it? Say anything about it?” asked Chellin, now typing furiously on his side of the holotable.   
Noga’n scratched his chin, “I never heard anything, no.”   
“Let me get this straight,” Jiik put up a hand, “A ship like that one was just parked behind Fa’athra’s-”  
“Well not behind, more like near it. In the swamp.”   
“Near it, whatever. It was there, and you heard nothing about it? No one came into Fa’athra’s from it? No one snooping around it?”  
Noga’n shook his head.   
“That’s...concerning,” said Chellin, pulling up a series of images that were blurry but unmistakably a series of identical ships, “but on brand. At least they’re consistent.”   
“What does that mean?”  
“It means they don’t want to be bothered,” Jiik explained, “And to answer your previous question, we don’t know if it’s one person or a whole group. All we know is that ships like that one have been spotted around the Outer Rim and a few Core World planets for the past twenty years or so. They just started popping up out of nowhere.”   
“Always similar looking. Always hidden away somewhere,” added Chellin, “and no one seemed willing to get too close.”   
“If they were hidden, how did anyone find them?”  
“Well,” Chellin chuckled, “They must not have been hidden well enough if a passing slave were able to spot it.”   
“Fair point, I guess,” conceded Noga’n, “So how did you two catch onto a pattern?”   
“Yes, please share with the class,” called Fent.   
“Might be good to know what we’re getting into,” agreed Beun, disengaging the door lock and opening up the cargo bay to the vacuum of space.   
Jiik dragged his hands down his face, “We don’t have time to give you the full run down. It took us years to get what we have now.”   
“Hang on,” said Lyse, “I thought you said this belonged to some hick, not an organized group.”   
“We don’t know if it’s a group,” interjected Maceon as if doing so would help.   
“So you knew?” Beun rounded on her.   
“I-”   
Beon got between the two of them and put a hand on either woman’s chestplate, “Not now, alright? They’ll tell us when they tell us-”  
“But would they have if Noga’n hadn’t asked?”   
“Yeah,” Teika chimed in, “if this was near Fa’athra I want to know why.”   
Lyse nodded, “That slug dealt with some real messed up people. Made a lot of people angry, including us,” she pointed between herself and Teika.   
“Guys, it’s fine,” said Noga’n, “I’m sorry I didn’t bring this up before we left.”  
“Not your fault,” Chellin assured him, “but we’ll deal with this later, understood? We need to collect what we can and destroy the ship as we agreed,” he added, his tone becoming more and more commanding, “So get it done and report what you find. Now.”   
Lyse shook her head, but turned toward the agape door. Fent followed slowly, but Beun remained where she was in a glaring match with her brother.   
“What’s gotten into you?” she hissed over their private channel, “You told me last minute that she had to come and now you’re making allowances for her? For not telling us vital information? Beon, if this is an organization there could be repercussions we need to know about!”   
“Beun-”   
“Uh this thing is beeping!” Lyse called up from the other ship.   
Maceon and Teika raced to the edge of the gangplank. Lyse evidently wasn’t interested in whatever argument was going on and decided to board without them.   
“Say that again?” said Teika, “You said it’s beeping?”  
“Like an explosive?” asked Maceon.   
“As if you care for my safety,” retorted Lyse, “but no, not like an explosive. More like...a beacon. Like a tracking fob.”   
“I don’t like that,” said Jiik, switching over to Lyse’s feed, “Lyse. what’s that red light to your right?”  
“My right?” she repeated, looking over a charred pile of debris and what looked like part of a storage crate.   
She pushed off of a debris pile on her left and floated across the gap to the right wall.   
“It’s,” she began, wiping off a layer of grime, “A-”  
“We’re being hailed!” shouted Noga’n, dumping Goldie off his lap and spinning around.   
“From where?” Jiik and Chellin switched back to Noga’n.   
“They’re nowhere near us,” he said, trying to read the string of coordinates flashing across the dashboard, “They’re using that ship like an amplifier!”   
“Lyse, get out of the ship right now!” Chellin ordered.   
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” she turned and powered on her jetpack, boosting herself backwards out of the gaping hole towards Fallstra.   
Teika took hold of her when she came in range; Maceon spun on her heels and ran through the cargo bay back to the bridge. Fent cautiously approached the siblings still staring at one another.   
“We’ll talk about it later,” Beun was saying, “I just wasn’t expecting to do a job with her again. Not after-”  
“I know..we talked,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, “I wouldn’t have asked you to let her come if I thought it would hurt you.”   
Beun put her hands on her hips and let out a long sigh, “You know, lately you’ve been doing a lot of things I don’t understand,” she looked up at him, “I just need to know that we’re still on the same page.”   
“We are, and we always will be, I promise.”   
“We should move,” Fent advised, slipping a hand around Beun’s waist.   
Beun didn’t move for a moment, eyes still fixed on her brothers.   
“Let’s go,” Fent prompted her again, pulling her along slightly.   
She trailed behind him slowly and Beon followed a moment later. When they reached the top of the ladder, they found both Lyse and Teika in varying stages of shock and mild grief. The Twi’lek kneeling before the projected figure with her faceplate up and her eyes so wide they looked ready to bulge from their sockets; Teika was stooped slightly beside her with his hand on her shoulder. Maceon turned to Beon when he reached her, confusion coloring her features. Beon looked from her to the pair then up to the figure.   
“I know you have questions,” said an oddly familiar voice, “I promise I’ll tell you everything, just please, hear them out.”   
Beun and Fent squeezed behind Lyse and Tieka. Noga’n, broadcasted from the bridge, was almost in tears. Maceon was still looking around the room as if she was the only one feeling lost.   
“Do you all...know them?” she asked.   
They all nodded.   
“Yeah,” said Lyse, her voice choked, “You could say that.”


End file.
